Sunday, July 24, 2011

I just borrowed this book from the library: '1000 Ideas for Creative Reuse'. Really inspirational book. Lots of creative ideas. I of course like the 'Coutures + soft goods' section for refashioning ideas for myself. But the pictures in the other sections also inspire creative fashion ideas.

This book is all just pictures. There are no instructions on how to make the items. If you just like to look at pictures to get your own creative juices going, this is the book for you. Borrow it from the library first before you decide to buy it.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Remember the teal swimsuit that I was thinking of refashioning? Well, it's done! Thanks very much to hubby who single-handedly put 2 kids to sleep. I was able to have some sewing/refashioning fun for an hour (it has been really really difficult to steal an hour for myself when having a raging toddler and a 2 month old baby!).

I had been doing a lot of planning and thinking before I took out the scissors for this project. It was a bit of trial and error: cutting some, sewing some, trying the suit on, cut some more, sew some more, etc. That's why I didn't take any 'during' pictures because I didn't know how I was going to do it and how it would turn out.

So a too-long one piece swimsuit:
Became a faux tankini suit!

Steps:
1. Try on swimsuit. Make a rough mark on where to cut the across the suit.
2. Turn the suit inside out. Mark the line to cut and cut it.
3. Try on the tankini top and the cut bottom. Note where else needs cutting. In this case, because I have a flat bum, I found the bum portion of the suit had too much fabric. So I decided to shorten the front by 1.5cm, and the back by 3cm.
4. Sew the tankini top and the bottom together again.
5. Try on the suit again to check the fit.
6. Topstitch the tankini bottom edge to make it look more like a real tankini.

The new suit feels more snug which I hope will not droop after being in the water. Now I just have to go swimming to see if it will perform as I wish!